Releasing Bazaar
================

This document describes the processes for making and announcing a Bazaar
release, and managing the release process.  This is just one phase of the 
`overall development cycle <cycle.html>`_, but it's the most complex part.
This document gives a checklist you can follow from start to end in one
go.

.. contents::

Preparing the tree for release
------------------------------

.. Was previously at http://bazaar-vcs.org/ReleaseChecklist

#. Make a local branch for preparing this release.  (Only for the first 
   release in a series, otherwise you should already have a branch.) ::

     bzr branch trunk prepare-1.14

#. Download the pqm plugin and install it into your ``~/.bazaar/plugins``::

     bzr branch lp:bzr-pqm ~/.bazaar/plugins/pqm

#. Configure pqm-submit for this branch, with a section like this in
   ``~/.bazaar/locations.conf``::

	[/home/mbp/bzr/prepare-1.14]
	pqm_email = Canonical PQM <pqm@bazaar-vcs.org>
	submit_branch = http://bazaar-vcs.org/bzr/bzr.1.14
	public_branch = http://bazaar.your-domain.com/bzr
	submit_to = bazaar@lists.canonical.com
	smtp_server = mail.your-domain.com:25

    Please see <http://doc.bazaar-vcs.org/latest/developers/HACKING.html#an-overview-of-pqm>
    for more details on PQM

#. In the release branch, update  ``version_info`` in ``./bzrlib/__init__.py``.
   Double check that ./bzr ``_script_version`` matches ``version_info``. Check
   the output of ``bzr --version``. 

#. Add the date and release number to ``./NEWS``

#. To check that all bugs mentioned in ``./NEWS`` are actually marked as
   closed in Launchpad, you can run ``tools/check-newsbugs.py``::

     ./tools/check-newsbugs.py NEWS

#. Summarize into one or two paragraphs what's new in this release.

#. Commit these changes to the release branch, using a command like::
    
     bzr commit -m "Release 1.14." 
   
   The diff before you commit will be something like::

     === modified file 'NEWS'
     --- NEWS        2008-09-17 23:09:18 +0000
     +++ NEWS        2008-09-23 16:14:54 +0000
     @@ -4,6 +4,23 @@
     
      .. contents::
     
     +bzr 1.7 2008-09-23
     +------------------
     +
     +This release includes many bug fixes and a few performance and feature
     +improvements.  ``bzr rm`` will now scan for missing files and remove them,
     +like how ``bzr add`` scans for unknown files and adds them. A bit more
     +polish has been applied to the stacking code. The b-tree indexing code has
     +been brought in, with an eye on using it in a future repository format.
     +There are only minor installer changes since bzr-1.7rc2.
     +
      bzr 1.7rc2 2008-09-17
      ---------------------
     
     
     === modified file 'bzrlib/__init__.py'
     --- bzrlib/__init__.py  2008-09-16 21:39:28 +0000
     +++ bzrlib/__init__.py  2008-09-23 16:14:54 +0000
     @@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
      # Python version 2.0 is (2, 0, 0, 'final', 0)."  Additionally we use a
      # releaselevel of 'dev' for unreleased under-development code.
     
     -version_info = (1, 7, 0, 'candidate', 2)
     +version_info = (1, 7, 0, 'final', 0)
     
     
      # API compatibility version: bzrlib is currently API compatible with 1.7.
      
#. Tag the new release::

     bzr tag bzr-1.14

#. Push those changes to a bzr reposistory that is public and accessible on
   the Internet. PQM will pull from this repository when it attempts to merge
   your changes. Then submit those changes to PQM for merge into the
   appropriate release branch::
 
     bzr push
     bzr pqm-submit -m "(mbp) prepare 1.14"

#. When PQM succeeds, pull down the master release branch.


Making the source tarball
-------------------------

#. Change into the source directory and run ::
  
     make dist

   This also makes a zip file, which is easier to access on Microsoft
   Windows.

#. Now we'll try expanding this tarball and running the test suite
   to check for packaging problems::
 
     make check-dist-tarball


Publishing the release
----------------------

Now you have the releasable product.  The next step is making it
available to the world.

#. In <https://launchpad.net/bzr/> click the "Release series" for this
   series, to take you to e.g. <https://launchpad.net/bzr/1.14>.  Then
   click "Register a release", and add information about this release.

#. Within that release, upload the source tarball and zipfile and the GPG
   signature.  Or, if you prefer, use the
   ``tools/packaging/lp-upload-release`` script to do this.

#. Link from http://bazaar-vcs.org/Download to the tarball and signature.

#. Announce on the `Bazaar home page <http://bazaar-vcs.org/>`_.

#. Check that the documentation for this release is available in 
   <http://doc.bazaar-vcs.org>.  It should be automatically build when the 
   branch is created, by a cron script ``update-bzr-docs`` on
   ``escudero``.


Announcing the release
----------------------

Now that the release is publicly available, tell people about it.

#. Make an announcement mail.

   For release candidates, this is sent to the ``bazaar-announce`` and
   ``bazaar`` lists.  For final releases, it should also be cc'd to 
   ``info-gnu@gnu.org``, ``python-announce-list@python.org``, 
   ``bug-directory@gnu.org``.  In both cases, it is good to set
   ``Reply-To: bazaar@lists.canonical.com``, so that people who reply to
   the announcement don't spam other lists.

   The announce mail will look something like this::
   
      Subject: bzr x.yy released!
      
      <<Summary paragraph from news>>
     
      The Bazaar team is happy to announce availability of a new 
      release of the bzr adaptive version control system.
      Bazaar is part of the GNU system <http://gnu.org/>.
     
      Thanks to everyone who contributed patches, suggestions, and
      feedback.
      
      Bazaar is now available for download from 
      http://bazaar-vcs.org/Download as a source tarball; packages 
      for various systems will be available soon.
      
      <<NEWS section from this release back to the last major release>>

   Feel free to tweak this to your taste.

#. Make an announcement through <https://launchpad.net/bzr/+announce>

#. Update the IRC channel topic. Use the ``/topic`` command to do this,
   ensuring the new topic text keeps the project name, web site link, etc.

#. Announce on http://freshmeat.net/projects/bzr/
   
   This should be done for both release candidates and final releases. If
   you do not have a Freshmeat account yet, ask one of the existing
   admins.

#. Update `<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bazaar_(software)>`_ -- this should be done
for final releases but not for Release Candidates.

#. Update the python package index: <http://pypi.python.org/pypi/bzr> - best
   done by running ::

       python setup.py register

   Remember to check the results afterwards.

   To be able to register the release you must create an account on
   <http://pypi.python.org/pypi> and have one of the existing owners of
   the project add you to the group.


Merging the released code back to trunk
---------------------------------------

Merge the release branch back into the trunk.  Check that changes in NEWS
were merged into the right sections.  If it's not already done, advance
the version number in ``bzr`` and ``bzrlib/__init__.py``.  Submit this
back into pqm for bzr.dev.

You should also merge (not pull) the release branch into
``lp:~bzr/bzr/current``, so that branch contains the current released code
at any time.


See also
--------

* `Packaging into the bzr PPA <ppa.html>`_ to make and publish Ubuntu
  packages.
* `Bazaar Developer Document Catalog <index.html>`_
* `Development cycles <cycle.html>`_: things that happen during the cycle
  before the actual release.

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